


All The Way Home

by TatteredTeddy



Category: Biohazard | Resident Evil (Gameverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Gunshot Wounds, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, idk when post-canon tho, kind of canon divergent?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:40:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28735086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TatteredTeddy/pseuds/TatteredTeddy
Summary: Jake Muller, Sherry Birkin, and their newest teammate Karina Macauley are accompanying the BSAA on a mission when something goes horribly wrong.
Relationships: Jake Muller/Original Female Character(s)





	All The Way Home

I wouldn’t have known that I was quite literally inches from death if it wasn’t for Jake. The first sign that something was seriously wrong was that he pushed me out of the way before aiming his gun. He’s usually very careful with me, not even daring to take my hand if he isn’t sure I’m okay with it. He would never push me unless he was keeping me away from certain death. As I stumbled back away from him, a string of curse words left his mouth, and he readied his gun to fire at what must either be a BOW or some overzealous solo agent who doesn’t know that Jake’s on his side. He’s never cared much for the identity of his targets.  
  
I only saw the tiny, dark shape speeding toward me for a split second, but I didn’t have time to react until I felt the bullet pierce my skin. A flash of pain knocks me down to the ground, and then suddenly I’m staring up at a purplish-blue sky, rolling over to keep my shoulder off the ground. I can feel blood pouring from it, dripping onto my shirt and the ground.  
  
Jake appears over me, followed by his partner, two pairs of eyes widening in horror. I hear an unfamiliar male voice shout in the distance: “It was right behind her!”, and Jake once again curses out the source of the sound.  
  
“Kali, you okay?” he asks, his face scrunching up with that panicked look I’d only ever seen on him once before. “You went down hard.”  
  
“No…? I… I’m not okay. I think I was just shot. Um… we should… get to a hospital or something.”  
  
“Yeah. No, you’re right, you were shot. A BOW tried to come up behind you and some BSAA jarhead started shooting before he used his goddamn brain.”  
  
“We should… call an ambulance,” I repeat.  
  
“I know, babe.”  
  
Jake’s partner… whatever her name is again… takes off running, shouting for that other guy that hit me on accident that if he’s gonna pull that idiotic move he might as well call us an ambulance or something. I hear something about the BSAA in the distance: does the BSAA have an ambulance of their own for their medical facilities? I’d much prefer to be in their care than sent off to a crowded, chaotic hospital, where everyone would be too busy with C-Virus recovery efforts to bother with a patient who isn’t turning into a BOW.  
  
“The BSAA’s emergency helicopter is coming!” Jake’s partner calls out to us.  
  
Jake picks me up from the dusty ground and bounces me in his arms a little bit. He squints down at the wound on my shoulder, but he doesn’t appear to see anything out of the ordinary. He’s probably dealt with this kind of thing a million times before. “Hear that? The helicopter’s coming. You got this.”  
  
“Jakey… you’re gonna stay with me the whole time, right?”  
  
“Course I will. You might need emergency surgery so I won’t be allowed to go in with you for that, but for everything else, I’ll be right there. Sherry’s gonna be there too.”  
  
“Sherry. Oh… that’s her name.”  
  
“Yeah, you ditz. That’s her name.”  
  
He leans down and kisses the top of my head. I think I can hear the loud whirring of a helicopter in the distance, but that could also be me just getting loopy from the pain and however much blood I must be losing. “When’s the helicopter coming…?” I mumble.  
  
“Soon. Just wait, babe. It’s coming.”  
  
Sherry rushes back over to us, bending over to catch her breath before speaking. “You’re gonna make it, Kali. You’re doing great. Just a couple minutes, then everything's gonna be fine.”  
  
“I’ve been through this before,” Jake adds on. “If I’ve done it too many times to remember, you can do it once. You’re gonna be quite the little badass with that scar. You’ll be showing it off at parties… I bet everyone’s gonna want that story.”  
  
“If the world ever goes back to normal enough that… that I can go to a party.” I can’t believe this is what I’m trying to sputter out as I’m limp in my boyfriend’s arms with my shoulder bleeding out like the end of the fucking world.  
  
“It’ll get there. Hey. Hey, you hear that?” Jake turns around and gestures at the silhouette of a helicopter in the distance, quickly coming closer to us. “You’re gonna be just fine. The chopper’s right here.”  
  
The helicopter lands startlingly close to us, whipping my hair around my face as the blades slow their spinning to a halt. “Ready to go?” Jake asks, standing up and lifting me up with him.  
  
“Mhm. Can I just…” I close my eyes and ungracefully flop my head over onto his chest. “Rest a bit…”  
  
“Whoa. Hey, don’t close your eyes right now, okay? Stay awake just for now. I don’t wanna see you with your eyes closed and get worried about something that probably won’t happen. Stay awake, okay?”  
  
“Jake, just let her close her eyes!” Sherry shouts back as I’m handed off to the medics. “She’ll be fine, okay? Don’t worry. She’ll be just fine.”  
  
“Why can’t you just let me be worried about her?” Jake asks. He and Sherry slowly disappear from my line of sight, blocked by the closed windows and the medics bustling around me.  
  
“Snap out of it,” Sherry orders, her voice muffled by the helicopter’s engine. “If you get freaked out it’ll freak her out too? Okay? Listen to me. It’ll be just fine.”  
  
It’ll be just fine. Sherry’s words echo in my head as the door closes behind me. Neither her nor Jake get on with me. It’ll be just fine. If Sherry thinks I’ll be fine, then I’m sure I will be. She’s probably had much more experience with this than I have. It’ll be just fine. The loud rumbling of the engine, the sound of the medics around me, everything fades away into a blur of all my senses swirling together… and then suddenly, a perfectly peaceful quiet. I just hope that wherever I end up after this, the first thing I’ll see is…  
  
“Jake.”  
  
Wait. This was not where I was the last time I was totally conscious and aware of my surroundings. It’s as if a piece of time was cut from my life, taking me from staring at the ceiling of the helicopter to a slowly dying lightbulb directly above me, with no transition and no sensation of falling asleep. I’m definitely still alive, thank goodness. Not dead, not in the afterlife, whatever that nebulous concept may be if that’s really what’s out there. I couldn’t have been out for too long, could I? I assume I must have been put under some kind of anesthesia to remove the bullet and close up the wound somehow, but after that, I must have just been under the influence of enough medication and pain-induced dissociation that I didn’t remember anything in between then and now.  
  
I look down to see that I’m on a small bed like in a school nurse’s office, with multiple BSAA-issued blankets over me. I can faintly make out my brother’s name stitched onto one of the blankets. Maybe they thought I’d feel more comforted if I had something to remind me of him when I woke up.  
  
“Jake.” The familiar female voice repeats itself. “She opened her eyes!” I feel like I vaguely remember her being in here at some point.  
  
I try to ask who’s hovering over me, but the words don’t come out at first. It feels like my throat is being constricted from the inside. “W-Wha— Jake…?”  
  
“Jake should be coming in soon. He’s talking to the medics who picked you up.”  
  
“Am I in the hospital?”  
  
“No, you’re at BSAA headquarters. I trust them with you a lot more than I’d trust your average doctor.”  
  
I squint up at the source of the voice, a kind-looking girl with short blonde hair and big blue eyes. It’s Jake’s partner! Thank goodness it’s her. I can’t focus on anything enough to deal with someone who wasn’t there for the initial incident. “What… um, what’s your name again?”  
  
She just gives me an extremely worried look. “You know me. I’m Sherry. Sherry Birkin. Jake and I work together. Do you remember anything?”  
  
“You’re Sherry,” I parrot back to her. “I, um… I remember when I went down, and then I kinda remember Jake picking me up... and it was all weird and blurry for a while after that. Lots of bleeding and the guys in the helicopter shouting orders at each other. And then, uh… I woke up here.”  
  
Sherry sighs and looks back at the door. “That’s what we figured. You’re okay, you just... got caught in the crossfire during a face-off with some BOWs. Took the bullet better than most BSAA guys I know. I’m guessing you don’t have any combat experience, do you?”  
  
“Huh...? No... I don’t have any combat experience. Where... where’s Jake?” I mumble.  
  
“Jake, come in here,” Sherry calls out the door.  
  
A gloved hand pushes the door open and it bounces off the wall before returning to its nearly-closed position. I slowly sit up and Jake’s face comes into view above me. “Hey... Kali.” A relieved smile crosses his face. “You’re okay.”  
  
“Jakey...?” I mumble, only vaguely sure that I’m smiling at him.  
  
“You’re always gonna call me that, huh?” he laughs. “Sher, can I sit down?”  
  
“Oh. Right. Sorry about that.” Sherry stands up out of the singular chair in the room so Jake can sit down next to my bed.  
  
“No worries. Kali, how’re you feeling?” He leans in and puts his hand on my cheek. “You took that like a champ. For someone who’d never seen a gun up close before you met me, you sure toughed it out the whole way here.”  
  
I squint at him for a few seconds, slowly processing what he said before replying: “How many fuckin’ drugs am I on?”  
  
He shakes his head at me, but I can see that little smile that he never shows anyone except me, and probably Sherry too. “I dunno. I bet more than you can imagine. But at least you’re in good hands.”  
  
“How did you two even get in here?” I mumble. “Aren’t only family members allowed to be in hospital rooms during shit like this?”  
  
“This isn’t a hospital, airhead. Remember? This is the BSAA. There’s a lot less rules around here.”  
  
“Right. Almost forgot about that part.”  
  
Sherry smiles down at the two of us and then glances out the door. “I’m gonna go find a bathroom. And maybe a vending machine too. We’ve been here for a while. Kali, you good if I leave you and Jake alone?”  
  
“Mhm.” I smile weakly at Sherry as she leaves. “I’m good.”  
  
“What, you wanna get some alone time with me already?” Jake teases. “At least wait ‘til we get you out of here, babe...”  
  
“That’s... that’s not what I meant. You’re such a little shit, you know that?”  
  
“I know I am, but you still like me anyway.”  
  
“Maybe so.”  
  
“You know, I was pretty damn scared the whole time,” I confess once Sherry leaves the room. “I know you thought I was being really brave because I wasn’t screaming or crying or anything, but that wasn’t because I was taking the pain well. I just didn’t know how to react to feeling like I was literally going to die. So I just kinda shut down.”  
  
Jake just nods his head. I can almost see the metaphorical gears turning in his mind as he tries to think of what to say. “...I think I kinda knew that the whole time. I’ve been in this position a few times myself, you know. Sherry’s always the one stuck dealing with me. God, was she relieved when we got together. Another person to handle all the shit I put her through.”  
  
“Heh. Right. I like dealing with you though.”  
  
“Yeah, well, you might have to do a little more of that in the coming days. I think someone needs to come home with me. I don’t know if I trust you to recover all alone at your place.”  
  
“Huh…?” I blink up at him in confusion. “Why not?”  
  
“‘Cause you overwork yourself whenever you get hurt. Damn, even I know not to do that. So you’re coming back with me. The hell else am I supposed to do having my whole place to myself, anyway? I’m too used to going everywhere with Sherry.”  
  
“I dunno. I’m guessing you’re gonna do that thing where you watch over me all protectively with that super serious look you get when you’re, like… you know… trying to fight everything in the fuckin’ world for me ‘cause you fight everything in sight,” I tease. I understand that my words are completely incomprehensible, I just don’t know how to correctly form them. My brain is clouded with military-grade medicine that only somewhat stifles the throbbing in my shoulder. “Y’know… when you do the face. Like…” I contort my face into an imitation of him. “Grrrrr.”  
  
“Yeah, yeah, I might do that a little. You’re seriously on a lot of pain meds, babe. Get some rest.”  
  
“Wait… are you leaving?”  
  
As he’s about to stand up, he stops and freezes in place, averting his gaze from me for a second. “Do you… not want me to go?”  
  
“No… can you stay here?”  
  
He sits back down and nods his head. “Sure. Guess a bullet wound is a hell of a lot bigger deal for you than it’d be for me, huh?”  
  
“Yeah… did you ever have something like this happen when you were on that crazy BOW-fighting journey?” I ask.  
  
“A lot, actually. Usually not in too dangerous of places, but there was one that’s pretty much in the same spot as yours. Check this out.” He pulls down the collar of his shirt to reveal a bullet wound scar, in nearly the same location as mine just as he promised. It looks to have healed fairly well. I have to wonder if his unusual genetics contribute to how well he heals from serious injuries like that.  
  
“Huh. I bet mine’s gonna look like that soon. It looks really badass on you… makes you look all tough and battle-hardened.”  
  
“Yeah, you could call me that. I’ve seen a hell of a lot of fighting and had a hell of a lot more bullets fired at me than most people will ever see in their lives. Guess that makes me pretty tough.”  
  
We both temporarily forget our conversation and look up like a pair of watchdogs when the door opens. Sherry walks in with a bottle of soda and a granola bar in one hand, and tosses something to Jake from her other hand. “It’s for Kali. She needs it,” she says with a gentle smile.  
  
Jake hands over the gift to me and I see it’s a candy bar. “Hmph… breaking the rules to smuggle in candy? Federal government agent Sherry whatever-the-fuck, everybody,” I laugh. My voice is slowly starting to uncover itself from the heavy mask of medications.  
  
“I don’t think it’s technically against the rules.” Sherry pouts at me over her soda, which is fizzing intensely from being dropped inside the vending machine. “It’s not like a bullet to the shoulder will affect what you’re able to eat.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I unwrap the candy bar and take an overly enthusiastic bite. Apparently, my body has only now decided to inform me that I’ve had a subconscious craving for chocolate the whole time I’d been following Jake and Sherry around.  
  
“Someone’s happy to be getting spoiled by the two of us, huh?” Jake teases. “Sherry didn’t bring anything back for me.”  
  
“Yeah, because you’re not the one in the hospital bed.”  
  
“I still wanted something to eat!”  
  
“Let Kali have her chance. If you get shot again, I’ll buy you a chocolate bar to make it better. How about that?”  
  
I stifle a laugh behind my mouthful of chocolate. Their constant teasing of each other is strangely comforting. It makes me miss my brother and how we would always joke around with each other like that. My brother was kind of how I met Jake, anyway: I chased down the BSAA Alpha Team after they refused to give me any information on his disappearance, and when my pursuance of the remaining members of Finn’s team led me into a war zone riddled with J’avo, it was Jake who got me out of there with only a few scratches to show for my idiotic stunt. I wonder if Jake or Sherry had any siblings who they’d do something like that for, but before I can ask, the thought crosses my mind that they’ve never mentioned any family of their own. Maybe that’s what they are for each other. They’re practically family now after their mission in Edonia and escaping the research facility in China, and they both need that type of support from each other. They know more about each other than anyone else does, probably even more than what I know, and I’m the one who’s dating Jake. I can’t complain, though. Sherry’s great, and Jake needs her too.  
“You’re both pretty fuckin’ awesome, you know that?” I say through a mouthful of chocolate.  
  
“Yeah, so are you,” Jake says, a hint of a smile tugging at his lips.  
  
“I try my best,” Sherry replies with a sweet expression. “You feeling okay over there?”  
  
“Yeah, I’ll be alright. Could be better, but I think that’s kind of obvious.”  
  
Both of my guests laugh and Jake rolls his eyes at me. “Yeah, I got that already. But you’re doing pretty damn good, I think.”  
  
I look down at the wrapper in my hand. It’s already gone. I didn’t even realize I finished that entire chocolate bar so quickly. “Hm. Guess I am. Guess I was pretty hungry too.”  
  
Sherry’s phone rings and she picks it up, quietly listening in to whatever she’s being told with a couple of interspersed “Mhm”s before hanging up. “It’s Chris. He just needs to talk to us about what we saw in the Neo-Umbrella facility in China. Nothing too serious. We probably won’t be gone for very long.”  
  
“Alright. Have fun.”  
  
Jake rolls his eyes at me. “Yeah, sure, we’ll try. You just get some rest. Don’t go crying for me as soon as I leave.”  
  
I roll my eyes right back at him. He’s the only person I’d ever let tease me about my clinginess like that. “I won’t. Well, maybe only a little.”

For the rest of the time that I was stuck at BSAA headquarters, all I could think about was Jake’s impromptu decision that I’d be coming home with him. And sharing his bed too, for that matter. The thought of curling up next to him in my sleep buzzed through my mind until the moment I was cleared to go home, flanked by Jake and Sherry as they both reminded me at a rapid-fire pace of all the things I shouldn’t do with that side of my body. I guess they had a reason to worry about me, though. I do have a bit of a problem with overworking myself through my injuries, as Jake would always remind me of, usually while giving me that same overprotective look I get whenever I make a decision that’s less than ideal.  
  
Jake’s motorcycle was clearly not the best vehicle to take me home on given my condition, so Sherry lent us her car for the day just so I could get home safely. My bags had been shoved into the trunk, packed for me by Sherry, who had gotten into my apartment through questionable government-agent means. Either that or she got my keys from the locker that all my stuff resided in when I was admitted to the makeshift hospital at the BSAA. The ride home is peaceful and quiet, the only sound being the fuzzy radio that’s turned down low and the noise of the other cars around us. Each bump in the road makes me wince, and each time I‘d react to the less-than-perfect road, Jake would look at me with worry in his eyes, his expression taking on an uncharacteristic softness whenever any distressed sound came from me.  
  
Right as the silence begins to get boring, we arrive at a small, old-fashioned brick apartment building, shaded by branches of fluttering leaves in various shades of yellow and orange. I reach for my seatbelt to unbuckle it, but Jake grabs my hand before I can turn toward it. “Careful,” he says. “Don’t move that arm too much. I got it.” He undoes my seatbelt for me before getting out of the car and looking up at the apartment building. “Jeez, I really haven’t been back home in a while.”  
  
“This place looks really pretty. Let’s go inside so I can curl up somewhere more comfortable than that shitty cot I’ve been stuck in.”  
  
He laughs and shakes his head at me before leading me inside and into an elevator to the top floor of the building. Of course his place is at the end of the hall on the top floor. I’m not surprised he’d want to be as far away as possible from any commotion coming from the elevator, the stairs, or his neighbors. He keeps his arm around me the whole way to the front door of his apartment, his icy eyes flitting around to make sure he doesn’t have an audience in the form of a curious neighbor.  
  
When he unlocks his door, we’re greeted by the sight of a surprisingly quiet-looking, minimalistic apartment. The blinds have been left up, drenching the living room in the bright afternoon sunlight. A blanket is strewn over the back of the couch, and there are some dishes sitting out that are clean but just not put away. The amount of mess is typical for him: not squeaky clean, but very neatly cluttered. It all seems quite comfortable, rebelling against that fake, shiny metal and marble “modernity” that he no doubt despises. “So… here it is. Home sweet home. What, did you expect more?”  
  
“Hm? No… I like this. It’s really nice.”  
  
“Heh, thanks, I guess. I had only just moved in here before we had to take off again. This place is far, far away from anything the BOWs have touched in the past decade or so. Nothing comes near BSAA HQ, even if its brains are rotted.”  
  
“That’s nice. It’s surprisingly pretty here, for a glorified army base.”  
  
He closes the door behind us and I take in the atmosphere of the whole place once more. “Yeah, better than anything I’ve lived in before,” he says with a bitter chuckle. “Make yourself at home.”  
  
My eyes are drawn to the far side of the living room, where a sliding glass door leads out to a small balcony. It’s currently unpopulated by any furniture, not that it could fit anything more than a table and one or two small chairs. “Ooh, you even have a balcony!”  
  
“Yeah, it’s pretty nice. When I first moved in, I think I just stood out there for an hour or so because I’d never had one of those before.”  
  
“Well, it’s really cute. I might go out there myself.” I take a step toward the door and then glance back at him. “Come on~!” I giggle before continuing. “Let’s let a bit of fresh air in.”  
  
I open the sliding glass door and the rush of cool autumn air bursts into the apartment. I pull my sweatshirt tighter around my body before walking out to the balcony, not bothering to close the door behind me. Jake and I both need to breathe in the fresh air, uncontaminated by the smell of the apocalyptic scenes we’d watched play out in front of us. The stillness of the street out in front of the building feels almost unnervingly quiet. No bright neon lights illuminate the concrete, and no shouting or gunshots fill my ears. It’s just me and a silent scattering of cars and fallen leaves below my feet.  
  
As I’m just about to question where Jake went, I hear the sound of footsteps behind me and turn around to see him standing in the doorway. “What’re you looking at?” he asks.  
  
I lean back against the railing and pull my hair back behind my shoulders so it won’t fly into my face. “I don’t know. Just how weird all this peace and quiet feels, I guess.”  
  
“Yeah, it’s pretty wild, huh? I keep thinking that any minute, someone’s gonna break out a machine gun or scream in my face that a bunch of BOWs are coming to take me out.” He comes up beside me with a calm yet sad look on his face. “It’s almost too quiet for comfort.”  
  
“I like the quiet though. I missed it.”  
  
Jake wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me in closer against him. “You never had to see any kind of combat at all before you met me, did you?” he asks.  
  
“No… I never saw much of anything before I met you. I spent a lot of time in hiding. I really only started coming outside more often when I first saw you… just, you know, out of curiosity.” Wow, that sounded really creepy of me now that I said it out loud. “I thought it was really cool how you could just… kill any BOW in your path.”  
  
“What, you fell in love with me that quick?”  
  
I can feel my face instantly start heating up. Even if I’m used to his teasing, I’ll still always get a bit shy about it. “Well… maybe. Is that weird?”  
  
“I think it’s kinda cute. Sure, I didn’t know what to do with some random girl following me around at first. But damn, were you good at first aid. I couldn’t help but like seeing you get so close to me. Like you were just asking me to kiss you or something.”  
  
“Well, I kinda did want you to,” I admit. “I just didn’t know how to bring up my feelings. You were always so cool and badass and I was just you and Sherry’s awkward little tagalong.”  
  
“You’re not a tagalong, babe.” He smirks at me in that perfect, movie-character flirty way. “You’re a damn good team member. Much better to have around than anyone I’d worked with before.”  
  
“Better than Sherry~?” I giggle.  
  
“I like both of you for different things. Sherry kicks ass and she’s got that weird healing power, so that’s pretty useful to have around. You’ve got the first aid skills, and those hands can heal anything. You know that?”  
  
“I guess so. I just want to make sure you’re okay. You spend so much time fighting BOWs and other people, you need someone to take care of you when you’re not fighting.”  
  
“Yeah. I like that you do that for me. No one's ever really taken care of me before.”  
  
His hand is still resting on my shoulder, occasionally brushing over the soft fabric of my sweatshirt. I put my hand on top of his and gently squeeze. He runs quite warm, a perfect contrast to how cold I always am. Whenever I’m feeling especially cold, I know I can always steal some of his warmth, even if his initial reaction involves cursing the universe for making me so cold that I need to take his body heat by any means necessary. At the end of the day, though, we balance each other out perfectly. His warmth needs my coldness, and vice versa.  
  
“Everyone needs someone to take care of them, you know,” I say softly, more thinking out loud than speaking to him or anyone in particular. “Even if someone thinks they’re the biggest badass on earth and they can take down any BOW in one hit… life is always gonna be easier on them if they can come home to someone waiting for them.”  
  
“Yeah, I guess you’re right on that one. Back when Sherry and I were traveling around taking out those BOWs, it felt weird as hell to have someone sleeping in the same room as me at first, but I liked it. That’s… actually part of why I wanted you to come back with me ‘til you’re fully recovered. I bet you needed someone to sleep in the same room as you too, huh?”  
  
“Yeah. I do like sleeping next to you. Literally and figuratively.”  
  
He raises an eyebrow at me. “Oh, yeah? Figuratively how?”  
  
“Like… just doing normal things in my daily life, but with you involved. It’s more fun to do stuff when you’re there. Like, I like baking for you more than just doing it for myself, ‘cause you’ll always appreciate it. You’ll eat any baked goods I put in front of you.”  
  
“Maybe so. Or maybe you just make the best damn cookies in the world.”  
  
“It’s possible.” I slowly exhale and a puff of soft white breath appears in front of my face. “It’s getting cold out here. You wanna go back inside?”  
  
“Yeah, it is kinda cold. Come on, up you go.” He scoops me up effortlessly into his arms and carries me back inside, hip-checking the sliding glass door closed on the way in. Just as I’m about to get comfortable up against him, he sets me down onto the couch and sits next to me as I reorient myself. His lap is right there near my head. Theoretically I could just rest my head and get comfortable. Before I can get caught staring and give him the wrong idea though, I just subtly scoot over toward him and rest the side of my head on his thigh. Close enough to putting my head in his lap, I suppose.  
  
“You want something, babe?” he says with a curious smirk.  
  
“Mhm. Can I just…” I sit up a little to move closer to him and then put my head fully in his lap.  
  
“Right. Almost forgot that I’m a human pillow now. I’m not the most familiar with boyfriend duties yet.”  
  
“Yeah, you're my human pillow. You’re a pretty damn good human pillow too, you big nerd.”  
“I know I am. You need a blanket?”  
  
I nod my head, and he pulls the blanket down from the back of the couch and over me. My eyelids feel heavy with sleepiness once the warmth around me starts to settle in. “Can I nap here?”  
  
“Course you can. I might take a nap too.”  
  
He leans back and closes his eyes, his arm resting over my upper back, providing a comforting weight over me like a weighted blanket. I sigh and readjust myself so I’m in a comfortable little ball. The pain has reduced to a dull throb, much easier to sleep through than in previous days. I know it’s far away from the place I used to call home, but Jake’s apartment feels like home already: a place where I can fall asleep on the couch under his blanket and feel rested and at peace when I wake up. Maybe it’s because he’s the closest thing to home I’ll ever have.


End file.
